Centennial board approves new top business administrator

Friday

Thomas Greenwood, deputy chief of finance at the Mastery Schools charter school network, has agreed to a four-year contract in Centennial at a starting annual salary of $179,000.

A charter school administrator will become the Centennial School District's new top business administrator.

Thomas Greenwood, deputy chief of finance for the Mastery Schools network of 24 charter schools in Philadelphia and Camden the last 3.5 years, has agreed to a four-year contract in Centennial at a starting annual salary of $179,000. His appointment and contract were approved 6-3 by the school board at a recent meeting.

Greenwood will succeed Christopher Berdnik, who is leaving to become the new business administrator in the Pennsbury School District. He has been Centennial's top finance official under the title of chief financial officer since 2016.

"I'm uncomfortable with his (Greenwood's) salary, I really am," said Brancato before the vote, indicating that she felt the new business administrator's starting salary was too high.

In a telephone conversation Friday, Brancato added "he doesn't have the experience, I don't think. This man is being paid $5,000 more to start than Mr. Berdnik. We're telling citizens we have to raise their taxes 2.3 percent but paying administrators crazy amounts of money. I'm very upset about it and I think the community will be very upset."

At the same meeting that Greenwood was appointed, the board approved a proposed final budget for 2019-20 with a 2.3 percent property tax hike. However, because of savings on employee health care and other reasons, the proposed tax hike is significantly lower than the 4 percent that was previously anticipated, district officials pointed out.

Both Pollock and school district Superintendent David Baugh disagreed with Brancato on Greenwood's starting salary being too high. Pollock and Baugh both pointed out that Greenwood was highly recommended by two members of the team that interviewed him, board members Shafter and Adams, who both have finance backgrounds.

"Tom Greenwood's salary was negotiated by David Shafter," Baugh wrote in an email to this news organization. "Mr. Shafter, a long-serving board member, is also a former business administrator in New Jersey and serves in an oversight capacity for districts in distress in New Jersey. Mr. Greenwood's salary is very similar to Mr. Berdnik's salary, the total dollar value or package."

Baugh continued, "Mrs. Brancato was invited to be a part of the hiring process and did not attend the full board interview. I am not sure why. In short, she cannot have made a reasonable evaluation to assess his (Greenwood) worth to the district. Additionally, the compensation package is close to what he would have received had he stayed with his current employer. The board also realizes that a discount business administrator might save a few thousand in payroll but cost the community far more in errors and oversight in real dollars."

Baugh said Greenwood's starting salary in Centennial is actually $1,000 less than he would have been making at Mastery Schools next school year. He was scheduled to get a 4 percent raise hiking his salary to $180,000 for 2019-20, Baugh said.

And though Greenwood's contract states it starts "on or about June 26," which is four days before the start of what the district considers the 2019-20 school year, he will not receive his first pay increase above $179,000 until the 2020-21 school year, Baugh said.

Pollock added "you have to look at what the market rate is. Maybe the (starting) salary (in Centennial) is a couple of thousand too high but it's the going rate for business administrators."

In response to Baugh's comment about her not attending the full board interview of Greenwood, Brancato said she didn't feel she was given sufficient notice of the interview.

Greenwood's contract is scheduled to run through June 30, 2023. It gives him annual raises equivalent to the state Act 1 Index for that year, provided that index is not less than 2 percent or more than 2.5 percent. If it's lower than 2 percent, Greenwood will still get 2 percent and if it's higher than 2.5 percent, he will only get 2.5 percent.

A full copy of his six-page contract can be viewed on the school district website, centennialsd.org, by visiting the board docs section and clicking on the agenda for the May 14 meeting.

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